Chapter Seventy

Charlie

When I got the call from Annie I was surprised, I hadn't expected to hear her voice again so soon, if ever.

"Charlie I'm sorry to bother you but Johnny asked me to speak to you, to explain what happened on Grape Island"

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh, we thought you knew and now I'm in a very difficult situation but I guess all I can do is carry on. There was an incident on the island involving two wolves."

"I haven't heard anything about an incident and I thought Johnny promised me that the guardians wouldn't act unless Bella attacked the Quileutes again. Are you saying she has?"

"No, Bella didn't do anything, this was entirely the fault of Leah Clearwater and a rogue guardian, that's why I was ringing to explain. I thought perhaps you could let Jasper know what happened and what has been done."

"Well why don't you tell me what happened and then I'll talk to him, it seems he's been keeping things from me."

"Leah and a rogue guardian attacked Bella and the others on the island injuring Jasper or so we understand but both lost their lives, Leah and the other wolf. The Alpha of his pack has been relieved of his position and a new Alpha is now in place. We want to assure you that this was an isolated incident and will not be allowed to happen again."

"What about Bella and the others? Peter and Charlotte."

"There were no other injuries as far as we know."

"So why hasn't anyone told me?"

"Perhaps they thought better of it, so as not to worry you."

"Well I'm worried now and I don't appreciate Johnny H breaking his word. You tell him if he can't keep his guardians under control better than this perhaps he should spend a bit more time showing him self instead of playing chauffeur to you or me"

I was so angry and I guess I took it out on Annie which was very unfair,

"I'm sorry Annie, That was uncalled for, I apologise"

"I understand Charlie and believe me when I tell you that no one is more upset about this than Johnny. He feels betrayed and embarrassed that he gave you his word but was not able to keep it. Can I still ask you to speak to Jasper and your daughter and explain what happened?"

"Oh yes, I'll be talking to Jasper don't you worry about that."

I rang the number I had for Jasper but there was no answer, his phone went straight to voice mail so I left a short and curt message for him and waited. An hour later I got a call but it wasn't from Jasper, it was Peter's voice I recognised,

"I see, where's Jasper or hasn't he got the guts to face me and tell me what the hell is going on with my daughter? I trusted him with her and now I get a call from Denali telling me all about an attack by wolves. What the hell happened and where is Bella? I want to speak to her... now"

"That might prove a little difficult at the moment Charlie seeing as we don't know where she is"

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Just like it sounds, she was on the island, she left after the wolves attacked and now we don't know where the fuck she is but as soon as The Major finds her I'll get him to ring you."

"How long has my daughter been missing?"

"Ah...a while."

"How long?"

"A few weeks, maybe a bit longer"

"I see, and when was someone going to fill me in?"

"When we found her, what was the point in worrying you when there was fuck all you could do?"

"Where's Jasper?"

"Here and there, he's tracking her"

"By a trail of bodies? Or is she working her way up to Boston to finish the job she started on Esme Cullen? Maybe Garrett for an encore?"

"She's not going after anyone, that's all we know"

"Why?"

"Why isn't she? No idea but it would be my guess that between you and The Major you got through to her. She's gone nowhere near Boston or Alaska so I guess she's using the time to think, no bodies, no threats, zip."

I slammed the phone down feeling more frustrated and angry than ever, there was nothing I could do to find my daughter, I had no way of helping her and I should. I was her father and I should!

Peter

Well that had gone about as well as I expected, trust the fucking fur faces to tell him before we found Bella. Now I'd got to ring The Major and tell him Charlie was on the war path, just what we needed! Why were things never simple when our friend was involved? If only Bella would stop fucking about and let him catch up with her, they were going to end up together so why delay the inevitable? I didn't understand women, never had, never would, their brains were wired in a different way, just to fuck us about! I left it until our next contact time and gave him the bad news.

"I think when this is all over Charlie will take a shotgun to you for starters, followed by a meat cleaver then a finishing touch with a blow torch."

"He took it that well then?"

"Lets just say I'm still cooling my ear off, next time that kind of call has to be made, you can do it yourself, friendship only goes so far Major."

"Thanks Peter. If I could just catch up with her"

"Yeah, it would help. You were right about the wolves anyway and now the wonderful Johnny H owes us big time."

"Yeah well, lets concentrate on finding Bella first shall we."

Bella

I knew I had stopped running when a day went by without taking the coin from my pocket. I was in Wichita, Kansas, and I had booked a motel room for two nights instead of the usual one. So, what was I going to do? Look for him or lower my shield and hope he was still looking for me? If he wasn't then what would I do? It hadn't occurred to me before but now it seemed to loom large. What if Jasper had given up looking for me and decided he'd been wrong about us being mates? Was that possible? I decided to let fate have a shot, I would stay here a week, if he was still looking he should be here by then. I would lower my shield and wait but if I didn't see him by the end of the week I would put my shield back up and take my memories out. What happened then I had no idea and I didn't even want to think about the answer to that.

I wandered the city but I couldn't find anything that kept my interest for longer than a couple of hours. Not until I found the city library and immersed myself in a world of books. They had been my constant companions as a human but since I woke up a vampire I had neglected them and it was like meeting an old friend again. I spent every hour the library was open hidden among the stacks reading one after another of my favourite authors, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Emily Bronte, and of course Shakespeare. I hadn't noticed time move on but of course it had and suddenly I found myself at my deadline for waiting. I was in the library, a copy of Romeo and Juliet open in my lap when I realised it was time to pack up and leave. He wasn't coming and that left a huge gaping wound in my chest. I'd had him in the palm of my hand and let him slip through and I had no one but myself to blame.